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Have you discounted the idea of just buying the freehold and re-apportioning responsibilities in the leases?
Sharkstar-
As in
Buy freehold
Grant roof to upstairs lease
Loft extension & new roof
Sell
ProfitYeah, will take time to do the first few steps though.
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Have you discounted the idea of just buying the freehold and re-apportioning responsibilities in the leases?
Unsure we can achieve this quickly, cheaply, or unilaterally if needed.
The roof could definitely be developed as neighbours ones are, so the freeholder would be a fool not to ask for the development value... this conversation would be too slow even if it were cheap - which it won't be.
As downstairs are balking at £6k (£3k they are liable for, there's two of them so only £1.5k each)... I doubt they're going to be up for this... I could do it... but if I buy the freehold, they are still on an existing lease and I'd need them to be involved for me to change both leases.
All of this takes time which I do not have.
So what I have done: Given the downstairs a full portfolio of photos and videos of the state of the roof, given them three options:
- £6k overhaul to buy us 5 years, a sunk cost but cheap way to buy time
- £16k full roof including the replacing of a joist
- They do nothing, I involve the freeholder - who as per the lease will simply instruct someone to do the job he thinks it needs, and the bill to be sent to us (which is by far the most expensive option)
Oh, and I can't use insurance and neither can the freeholder... both state wear and tear is not covered and regular maintenance is implied - clearly this roof has not been maintained at all in the last few decades except by the fool who thought he could do it himself a decade ago.
- £6k overhaul to buy us 5 years, a sunk cost but cheap way to buy time
Howard
Velocio
Roof drama continues.
So it's not a minor patch up... there's lead missing, battens broken and missing, a piece of rotten wood on the front, someone tried to make a concrete flashing and it has eroded, the ridge shares the same concrete and has eroded... and about 1/4 of tiles need either replacing or re-securing as they are chipped, loose, broken or missing. A lot of this was hidden on the inside by roof insulation being stapled to the joists and acting as a wicking layer for rain that leaked in so it spreads out and evaporates... that has failed now rain has been very heavy, and enough tiles have naturally shifted over the years (as they were not secured properly) - basically, yet another amateur patch up job on the house.
The patch up job needed now buys us 5 years or so, and is £6k.
All of which is a sunk cost as when it needs redoing the flashing, ridge, etc will all be done again and unless we choose the most expensive tiles when we fully redo the roof (Cornish or Welsh natural slate) then the tiles we buy now will likely be discarded in 5 years as we'll change material to something cost effective and durable then.
A full roof, new manmade slate tiles throughout is £16k.
The lease is clear... this is shared. I can barely afford the £16k, downstairs cannot afford even £1k.
So what now? There are of course personal circumstances, downstairs is owned by a couple who have split up, the woman living there is struggling financially and the partner is living in Brixton somewhere and stretched as he's still paying part of this place as well as wherever he is.
I feel like invoking the freeholder is fast becoming the only way to go here... because the lease is clear that the freeholder has power to force works and send us the bill either way.
But... the £16k full roof is now my preferred option. 5 years isn't long, £6k is too much of a sunk cost, both flats are worth less and harder to sell whilst the roof needs doing.
If I set up a slush fund and immediately put it in debt, I'm going to have to get a solicitor to draw up a legal agreement to compel them to contribute on a schedule, but my fear is that they just won't pay their share and that long term I will be out of pocket and having to go to small claims court to force them to cover their part.
It's all shitty... I now wish the lease was a simple everything above the 1st floor was my responsibility so I could just get on with it. Each day that passes requires me to check the loft, empty buckets, and set alarms every few hours to empty buckets if it is raining.